Former French President Sarkozy accompanied by police officers overnight as he starts prison sentence

By Charlotte Reck, Pierre Bairin, CNN

(CNN) — Two police officers accompanied former French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his first night in prison, staying in a neighboring cell for his security, according to the country’s interior minister.

Laurent Nuñez confirmed that the former president, who is serving a five-year sentence after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy, would continue to receive protection in prison on account of his status and “given the threats he faces.”

The minister, who was speaking Wednesday to radio station Europe 1, added that the safety measures would remain in effect “as long as it is deemed necessary.”

“I’m in charge of the security of individuals, of high-ranking officials,” Nuñez said as he explained that it was his decision to extend Sarkozy’s protection while he serves his sentence.

“It was a decision aimed at ensuring his security in addition, obviously, to everything implemented by the prison administration,” he added.

Nicolas Peyrin, deputy secretary general of the prison guards’ union, told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the additional security provided for the former president was not needed. “I don’t see why the interior ministry would intervene in detention matters,” he said. “We already know how to do it very well.”

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, spoke to BFMTV on Tuesday night and insisted that his client had received no special treatment.

“He is in a nine-meter-squared (nearly 97-square-foot) cell, there is noise all the time. All the prisoners make noise, they shout, they bang on the walls,” Darrois said. “In principle, given the positions he has held, he should have a different status. He didn’t ask for it, so he doesn’t have it,” he added.

Leaving the prison after a visit on Wednesday morning, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, declined to provide journalists with a comment on Sarkozy’s police protections.

Sarkozy was sentenced last month for criminal conspiracy for his role in a scheme to finance his 2007 presidential campaign with funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favors.

The former president, who left office in 2012, has appealed his conviction but in the meantime is expected to occupy a cell either in solitary confinement or in the so-called “VIP wing” of La Santé prison complex.

That wing is usually reserved for prisoners who are considered unsuitable to be kept among the prison’s general population, usually out of fears for their safety.

Sarkozy is allowed three visits per week, with one having already been used by his wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who visited her husband on Tuesday, BFMTV reported.

Darrois revealed that, on his first day in jail, the ex-president dedicated some time to exercising, as well as starting to write his book. The lawyer said Sarkozy’s concern was not with himself, but his loved ones. “If he’s worried about anything, it’s his family,” he said.

Guillaume Sarkozy, the brother of the former leader, told BFMTV: “I am proud that we share the same name. I am proud that he is going to prison with his head held high, and I am totally convinced of his innocence.”

Cecilia Laurent Monpetit contributed to this report.

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